The Key Question in Hermeneutics

There is a key question when approaching any biblical text. Where one begins is where one ends. The issue: is a biblical text anthropocentric or theocentric? In other words, is a text man-centered or God-centered?

Sidney Greidanus has written eloquently on the topic:

 

"Fundamentally, the Bible is more than an ordinary history book, more than

artistically pleasing literature; it is religious literature . . . As religious literature,

the Bible reveals its theocentric nature. Everything is viewed in relationship to

God: the world is God's creation; human beings are image-bearers of God;

salvation belongs to God—in short, all of life belongs to and is governed by

God.

 

Every genre of biblical literature is theocentric. Even Esther, although God is not mentioned in the book, has a theocentric viewpoint. God is obviously working to protect the Jews. Theocentric interpretation seeks to expose in every passage the God-centered focus of the entire Bible.

Anthropocentric interpretation, on the other hand, is focused not upon God but upon human beings. Too often an anthropocentric emphasis is found in preaching and teaching. Interpreters love to focus on the human drama in the text. Bible characters are often seen as either good or bad examples of what one should or should not do for God—and because those examples are easily found in a text and resonate with the interpreter, a "man centered" spin is placed upon a text that was ultimately meant to teach a great truth about God.

While this is obviously a New Testament narrative, a good example of anthropocentric interpretation is found in the denials of Christ by Peter. As Ernest Best pointed out, "The incidents in which the weakness of Peter are (sic) shown are not recorded primarily to tell us about Peter's weakness but about the mercy of God who forgives him." Thus, Best argued, "The selection of incidents which we have been given about Peter has been dominated by an interest other than the character of Peter himself. It is foolish of us therefore to use these incidents to build up a picture of the character of Peter and then to go on and apply it to men generally. We ought to use the incidents of Peter's weakness instead to argue for God's mercy and strength."

Keep the following principles in mind when interpreting a passage of from the Old Testament:

• The Bible was given to reveal the character and purpose of God, not us.
  

  
   

• Even the moral requirements of Scripture reveal God and his intentions.
  

  
   

• Every text can be studied to discover what it tells us about God.
  

  
   

• Theocentric interpretation does not mean the sermon or Bible study is about
  God
  

  
   

• Theocentric interpretation asks, "What does this text tell me about God?"
  

  
   

• Use the basic concepts of a passage to consider how they point to God.
  

  
   

• In the New Testament, the basic question would then be, "What does this text tell me about Christ?" In essence, texts in the New Testament are Christocentric. The approach of a New Testament text would essentially be the same as that of the Old Testament.
  

  
   

Allow me now to turn to Genesis 22, the account of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrifice. More often than not, interpreters focus on Abraham and offer a moralistic sermon or study on faith. Obviously, Abraham's faith is important in the passage, however, when one focuses only on the Patriarch, it is an anthropocentric interpretation of the text.

If the text is theocentric (and it is), then let us ask the key question: What does this text say about God? When one looks at the text from this perspective there is a change in focus. What did Abraham and Isaac learn about God that day? The answer to that question is found in verse 14 after Abraham found a ram caught by his horns in the thicket: "And Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh-Jireh (The Lord Will Provide)."

One meets biblical characters who are extremely human. Remember, however, they are never seen in isolation. They are always part of a much larger story—the story about God. Hence, when interpreters pass on the biblical story, "they ought to employ biblical characters the way the Bible employs them, not as ethical models, not as heroes for emulation or examples for warning, but as people whose story has been taken up into the Bible in order to reveal what God is doing for and through them." [Greidanus]